Avalon Speakers

[seacard]

To break off the "Alternative Speakers" thread, I would like to hear people's impressions of the Avalon Acoustics line of speakers, specifically the Eidolon, Eidolon Vision, or Eidolon Diamond. I heard the original Eidolon last night and was shocked that a box speaker could sound that good. I would like to hear what others thought of these.

 

[dBel84]

I was going to post this link in your original thread as it has always appealed to me, it is DIY but....

, humblehomemadehifi..dB

 

[seacard]

That's a pretty good-looking replica, but how about the sound?

 

[dBel84]

"build them and let us know"

I've not built them but have a lot of respect for Tony's design philosophy and he doesn't skimp on parts quality. I have built my own speakers and I changed the crossovers to series crossovers after reading his website and the improvement was quite something. I fall strongly into the DIY camp tho and I would build these before buying the original anyday..dB

 

[Jon L]

I like Eidolons. If you like that type of sound, sure go for one. They really do achieve fabulous imaging and soundstaging, as well as great detail resolution and 3-D sculpting. They even go one step further if you add a great sub (such as Rel Stadium) at around 25-30 Hz, which "opens up" the soundstage/ambience quite a bit..

 

[seacard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L /img/forum/go_quote.gif I like Eidolons. If you like that type of sound, sure go for one. They really do achieve fabulous imaging and soundstaging, as well as great detail resolution and 3-D sculpting. They even go one step further if you add a great sub (such as Rel Stadium) at around 25-30 Hz, which "opens up" the soundstage/ambience quite a bit..

Well, they are definitely the best speaker I've heard so far, but it's so hard to decide on a speaker. There are hundreds of manufacturers, and it's impossible to try them all. With headphones, you can just buy them and sell them and try everything at home, without spending too much money. With speakers, you are limited to very short auditions in imperfect environments. It's so hard to plop down $10,000 when you read recommendations for so many speakers on various websites. DeVore Silverback? Audio Physic? Merlin? Nola? Haven't heard any of these. There is just no possible way to audition the hundreds or thousands of speakers under $20,000, which I find very frustrating.

 

[milkpowder]

Don't you wish you were editor of Stereophile?

 

[Carbonman]

Auditory memory is pretty fleeting, which makes it even more difficult to compare speakers you've listened to at different locations or even in different listening rooms. Fortunately our hearing mechanisms compensate for room acoustics to a great extent when listening to speakers, live music or voice in any room. Speak to someone as you prepare to listen to a sound system and it will give you a baseline of sorts to evaluate the speakers against in that environment.
Most speaker brands have a 'house sound', so it's not so critical to listen to the entire product line from each manufacturer. If you like one of the Avalon line of speakers, you will probably find them all pretty good sounding.
Most dealers won't carry two lines of speakers that sound very similar because they are then trying to compete against themselves. If you find something that you really like at one place, you probably will have to go to another shop to find something that can compete strongly against it for your ears preferences. Which puts to back into the auditory memory problem...

 

[gotchaforce]

I know you asked about avalons and this has probably been mentioned a billion times

but have you heard the Usher Dancer series?